The 2026 Major League Baseball season is full swing and sadly in their first game of the year, my San Francisco Giants fell to the New York Yankees by a score of 7-0. At least the box score provided a bit of comic relief as it was the first time a reigning MVP gathered four strikeouts on Opening Day so all thanks are due to Aaron Judge for recording this most historic Golden Sombrero ever! And as a statistics enthusiast, I appreciate the significance of being in attendance the last time Judge wore the Platinum Sombrero wherein one of those five strike outs he suffered was at the hands of Paul Skenes during his first ever start at Yankee Stadium on September 28, 2024. I was disappointed Skenes got pulled after two innings of scoreless ball but one could witness something far less spectacular in New York! While I was not at CitiField today to see Skenes make his first start of this season as he took on the New York Mets, those who were saw even less of him because he was...
The World Baseball Classic wrapped up this past Wednesday night without the Team USA victory that I had hoped for but on the bright side, their final game which Venezuela won by a score of 3-2 was watched by 11 million viewers in the States. That's a staggeringly large number for an "exhibition game" and I expect viewership will continue to grow in the coming years. I have never considered baseball to comply with the do-or-die format of tournament play but I admit it was a refreshing change for each game to have meaning as opposed to the drawn out nature of a months long season followed by a succession of best-of playoff series. Still though, if Team USA hopes to win it all ever again some changes need to happen. For starters, we need more starters but credit is due to Paul Skenes and Logan Webb who were both lights-out in their final starts against the Dominican Republic and Canada, respectively. Without the full commitment of another elite starting pitcher like Tarik S...